I actually do use it to trigger some automations and as a condition in others.
The issue with changing to an int and using 0 as a default is that I need to know when it changes from 0 to some number higher. If when it’s unavailable it gets switched to 0 instead of retaining the last good value then the automations based on going from 0 will get re-triggered which would be undesirable.
right now i am using a template sensor which works mostly the way I want.
I say ‘mostly’ because I do still get a false ‘0’ reported from the website on occasion but that has to do with the incorrect info there than with the sensors. And unless I put some kind of time constraint in the template there isn’t a good way to filter that out from a real ‘0’ if timeliness is critical.
If it becomes too much of an issue I’ll work on it at that point.